Leiden Institute of Physics / Leids Instituut voor de Natuurkunde

News

	Tjerk Oosterkamp on Radio 1 (7-2-2012) Tjerk Oosterkamp, experimental physicist at LION and member of the Young Academy recently gave an interview on Radio 1. Tjerk's concerns are about the rigorous budget cuts for scientific research by the government and its consequences. Read more (in Dutch)

	NWO-VICI grant for Martin van Hecke (7-2-2012) Martin van Hecke has been awarded a prestigious VICI grant of the Dutch Funding Agency NWO on his research on extreme phenomena in soft materials". The idea is that foam and sand are soft materials that can completely lose their mechanical strength.In this project the extreme physics that these materials exhibit - shock waves, nonlinear response and fracture will be unraveled, leading to a new understanding of their mechanics. Read more (in Dutch)

	Physics student Merlijn van Deen, winner of a Janneke Fruin-Helb subsidy (19-1-2012) Merlijn will spend six months in Paris at the ESPCI where he is carrying out research on the formation of droplets of suspension. Read more (in English)

	Reconciling long-term cultural diversity and short-term collective social behavior (12-1-2012) In a paper appearing in PNAS, Diego Garlaschelli and collaborators propose an explanation for a paradox in social science: the fact that cultural diversity persists in the long run, even if collective social phenomena (like financial bubbles and fashion) systematically occur over short timescales. Read more (in English)

	Anton Akhmerov winner of the Discoverer of the year 2011 (10-1-2012) During the Faculty of Sciences' New Year reception held on January 9, 2012, Anton Akhmerov was awarded the honorary title Discoverer of the year 2011. He also won the jury prize for the best thesis. Congratulations. Read more (in Dutch)

	Photo review of the St Nicholas celebration (19-12-2011) Last December 5th, St Nicholas and his Piets visited the LION. Both memorable and unfortunate occasions emerged from his big book. Since everyone was well behaved in the past year no one had to go to Spain in the sack. Cookies and hot chocolate was enjoyed by all. See photos